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Checkatrade Trophy draw: Who is drawn with Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham's youth sides in group stage?

Last Updated: 18/07/18 2:45pm

Lincoln City were Checkatrade Trophy champions in 2018

League One and Two clubs - plus squads from some big Premier League clubs - have found out their Checkatrade Trophy opponents.

For the third season in a row, the group stages of the competition contains 16 invited category one academies, which this year includes Arsenal for the first time.

The 56-team tournament is divided into 16 groups, with League One and League Two teams pre-drawn into groups within the northern and southern sections by their proximity to other teams in the competition.

Each side will play all the others in its group once, with games settled by a bonus-point penalty shoot-out in the event of a draw after 90 minutes, before the 16 group winners advance to the knock-out stages.

Holders Lincoln City will compete in Group H in the Northern section, while Arsenal's first group includes Cheltenham Town, Forest Green and Coventry City.

Northern section

Group A

Carlisle United

Morecambe

Sunderland

Stoke Under-21s

Group B

Bury

Fleetwood Town

Rochdale

Leicester Under-21s

Joey Barton will lead Fleetwood into the new season's competition

Group C

Accrington Stanley

Blackpool

Macclesfield Town

West Brom Under-21s

Group D

Crewe Alexandra

Shrewsbury

Tranmere Rovers

Manchester City Under-21s

Group E

Burton Albion

Port Vale

Walsall

Middlesbrough Under-21s

Nigel Clough, Burton manager

Group F

Barnsley

Bradford City

Oldham Athletic

Everton Under-21s

Group G

Doncaster Rovers

Notts County

Grimsby Town

Newcastle Under-21s

Group H

Lincoln City

Mansfield Town

Scunthorpe United

Wolves Under-21s

Lincoln City celebrate their opening goal in this year's final

Southern section

Group A

Crawley Town

Gillingham

Portsmouth

Tottenham Under-21s

Group B

Cambridge United

Colchester United

Southend United

Southampton Under-21s

Group C

Newport County

Plymouth Argyle

Swindon Town

Chelsea Under-21s

Plymouth Argyle's Graham Carey

Group D

Bristol Rovers

Exeter City

Yeovil Town

West Ham Under-21s

Group E

Cheltenham Town

Coventry City

Forest Green Rovers

Arsenal Under-21s

Group F

Northampton Town

Oxford United

Wycombe Wanderers

Fulham Under-21s

Wycombe will play following their promotion to League One (credit: Sky Bet/JMP)